Window of Tolerance

A trauma informed resource designed to explore how stress, trauma, fear, overwhelm and adversity can affect a person’s capacity to regulate emotions, think clearly, engage with support and experience safety in relationships.

The Window of Tolerance offers a framework for thinking about how people may respond when stress or perceived threat takes them outside a state in which they feel able to cope and respond effectively.

This may include experiences associated with hyperarousal, such as heightened alertness or fight and flight responses, or hypoarousal, such as shutting down, freezing or feeling disconnected. The framework can encourage curiosity about what may be happening underneath behaviours such as anger, avoidance, withdrawal or disengagement, rather than assuming we know what those behaviours mean.

The resource includes:

• An accessible overview of the Window of Tolerance
• Exploration of hyperarousal and hypoarousal
• Prompts to consider what may sit underneath behaviour
• Reflective prompts for practice
• Practical ideas for supporting regulation

Using the resource

The resource can support conversations and reflection when working alongside children, young people and adults. It can also be used for professional reflection, supervision and team learning, including thinking about how pressure, emotional demands and exposure to others’ distress can affect our own capacity to regulate, think and respond.

Professional guidance

The Window of Tolerance is a framework for supporting understanding and reflection rather than a diagnostic or assessment tool. Behaviour can have many meanings and should be understood within the individual person’s circumstances, experiences and context.

Trauma informed practice does not mean overlooking harm or removing accountability. It means bringing curiosity to behaviour while considering the experiences, needs and circumstances that may be influencing what we see.

Understanding what may sit underneath a response can help us think differently about what support might be needed.